News

Help Us Shape the Political Landscape

Please take a moment to complete the ASLA Federal and State Legislative Priorities Survey to tell us about issues that are important to you. Please complete your survey by May 15.

Greg Miller, FASLA

2018-05-01

From: ASLA President Gregory Miller, FASLA

Dear Members,

I encourage every ASLA member to complete the ASLA 2019-2020 Federal and State Legislative Priorities Survey that will help determine ASLA’s federal legislative agenda for the upcoming 116th Congress and will help shape your Chapter’s state legislative activities. Once again this year we are combining the Federal Priorities survey with the State Advocacy Priorities survey to make it more convenient for members to make their voices heard.

The Society’s mission is to advance the profession of landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship. ASLA is an advocate for the profession at the local, state, and national levels on public policy issues including licensure, transportation planning and design, stormwater management, community and national parks, and planning for climate change and resilience.

In recent years, ASLA achieved some critical legislative successes including working with chapters to successfully stave off state attacks on licensure, upgrade state licensure laws, and achieve licensure in the District of Columbia. On the federal side, ASLA helped to pass legislation to support the National Park Service, promote green infrastructure in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects, and protect and preserve the Land and Water Conservation Fund. ASLA government affairs also continues its fight against proposed environmental and climate change rollbacks in federal law. Even as advocacy continues for these and other issues, this process will begin to determine which federal advocacy issues will be a priority for the Society in the upcoming 116th Congress in 2019-2020 and will help shape your local chapter’s upcoming advocacy efforts.

Once ASLA receives your responses, the ASLA Government Affairs Advisory Committee (GAAC) will analyze, review, and vet the federal information to recommend a 2019-2020 Federal Legislative Priorities Agenda. During the ASLA Annual Meeting, the Board of Trustees will provide input on the recommended agenda, with the Executive Committee providing final endorsement in late 2018. Results from the state legislative questions will be shared with the ASLA Licensure and State Advocacy Committee and forwarded to your local chapters to assist with developing critical state and local legislative activities.